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Combat at Guangzhou during the Second Opium War
Combat at Guangzhou during the Second Opium War

The Opium Wars (simplified Chinese: 鸦片战争; traditional Chinese: 鴉片戰爭; pinyin: Yāpiàn Zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, lasted from 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860 respectively,[1] the climax of a trade dispute between China under the Qing Dynasty and the United Kingdom. Guangzhou ( Jyutping: Gwong²zau¹; Yale: Gwóngjàu) is the Capital and a Sub-provincial city The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war of the United Kingdom Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located British smuggling of opium from British India into China and the Chinese government's efforts to enforce its drug laws erupted in conflict. Opium is a Narcotic formed from the Latex (ie sap released by lacerating (or "scoring" the immature seed pods of opium poppies ( For usage see British rule in India British Raj ( rāj, lit "reign" in Hindustani) primarily refers to the British

China's defeat in both wars forced the government to have to tolerate the opium trade. Britain forced the Chinese government into signing the Treaty of Nanking and the Treaty of Tianjin, also known as the Unequal Treaties, which included provisions for the opening of additional ports to foreign trade, for fixed tariffs, the recognition of both countries as equal in correspondence, and the giving of Hong Kong to Britain. The Treaty of Nanking (Treaty of Nanjing signed 29 August, 1842, was the unequal treaty which marked the end of the First Opium War between Several documents titled " Treaty of Tien-tsin " ( Traditional Chinese: 天津條約 Simplified Chinese: 天津条约 Pinyin: Tiānjīn Tiáoyuē Unequal Treaties is a term used in reference to the type of Treaties signed by several East Asian states including Qing Dynasty China, late Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders The British also gained extraterritorial rights. Several countries followed Britain and sought similar agreements with China. Many Chinese found these agreements humiliating and these sentiments are considered to have contributed to the bloodthirsty Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) which was deemed the worldwide second tier most bloody revolt after WWII, with an estimated death toll of 20-30 million[2], the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), and the downfall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. The Taiping Rebellion or Rebellion of Great Peace was a large-scale Revolt against the authority and forces of the Qing Government in China The Boxer Rebellion, or Boxer Movement, was an uprising by members of the Chinese Society of Right and Harmonious Fists against foreign influence Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China

Contents

Background

Direct maritime trade between Europe and China started in the 16th century, after the Portuguese established the settlement of Goa in India, and shortly thereafter that of Macau in southern China. Goa ( Konkani: गोंय /ɡɔ̃j/ is India 's smallest state in terms of area and the fourth smallest in terms of population. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Macau topics. After Spanish acquisition of the Philippines, the pace of exchange between China and the West accelerated dramatically. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Manila galleons brought in far more silver to China than the Silk Road. The City of Manila The Silk Road, or Silk Routes, are an extensive interconnected network of Trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East South and Western Asia with the The Qing government attempted to limit contact with the outside world, only allowing trade through the port of Canton (now Guangzhou). Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China Guangzhou ( Jyutping: Gwong²zau¹; Yale: Gwóngjàu) is the Capital and a Sub-provincial city Severe red-tape and licensed monopolies were set up to restrict the flow of trade, resulting in high retail prices for imported goods and limited demand. Spain began to sell opium, along with New World products such as tobacco and corn, to the Chinese in order to prevent a trade deficit. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Opium is a Narcotic formed from the Latex (ie sap released by lacerating (or "scoring" the immature seed pods of opium poppies ( The balance of trade (or net exports, sometimes symbolized as NX) is the difference between the monetary value of Exports and imports in an

As a result of high demand for tea, silk, and porcelain in Britain and the low demand for British commodities in China, Britain had a large trade deficit with China and had to pay for these goods with silver. Tea refers to the cured agricultural product of the leaves leaf buds and internodes of Camellia sinensis, which have been prepared and cured for the market Silk is a natural Protein Fiber, some forms of which can be woven into Textiles The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons Porcelain is a Ceramic material made by heating raw materials generally including Clay in the form of Kaolin, in a Kiln to temperatures Britain began exporting opium to China from British India in the 18th century to counter its deficit. Opium is a Narcotic formed from the Latex (ie sap released by lacerating (or "scoring" the immature seed pods of opium poppies ( For usage see British rule in India British Raj ( rāj, lit "reign" in Hindustani) primarily refers to the British The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system The opium trade took off rapidly, and the flow of silver began to reverse. The Yongzheng Emperor prohibited the sale and smoking of opium in 1729 because of the large number of addicts, and only allowed a small amount of opium imports for medicinal purposes. The Yongzheng Emperor (雍正帝 → yōngzhèngdì) (born Yinzhen (胤禛 → yìnzhēn) December 13, 1678 - October 8 Year 1729 ( MDCCXXIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common [3]

Growth of the opium trade

Opium destruction
Opium destruction

The British East India Company pursued a monopoly on production and export of opium in India after Britain conquered Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or In Economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos, alone or single + polein, to sell exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient Etymology and ethnology The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang The Battle of Plassey (পলাশীর যুদ্ধ Pôlashir Juddho) was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal

In 1773 the Governor-General of Bengal pursued the monopoly on the sale of opium in earnest and abolished the old opium syndicate at Patna. Paṭnā ( Hindi: पटना is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited For the next 50 years opium would be key to the East India Company's hold on India. Importation of opium into China was against Chinese law (although China did produce a small quantity domestically). Thus, the British East India Company would buy tea in Canton on credit, carrying no opium, but would instead sell opium at the auctions in Calcutta. Guangzhou ( Jyutping: Gwong²zau¹; Yale: Gwóngjàu) is the Capital and a Sub-provincial city Eventually, the opium would reach the Chinese coast on British ships and be smuggled into China by Chinese merchants. In 1797 the company ended the role of local Bengal purchasing agents and instituted the direct sale of opium by farmers to the company. British exports of opium to China skyrocketed from an estimated 15 tons in 1730, to 75 tons in 1773, shipped in over two thousand "chests," each containing 140 pounds (64 kg) of opium.

Earl Macartney's negotiations with the Qianlong Emperor in 1793 to ease trade restrictions between Britain and China were unsuccessful. George MaCartney was a British administrator who served as the Governor of Madras from 1781 to 1785 Emperor Qianlong (Chinese 乾隆 Qiánlóng, Wade-Giles' Ch'ien-Lung', Mongolian Tengeriig Tetgesen Khaan, born Hongli (弘历 September

In 1799 the Chinese Empire again banned opium imports. The Empire issued the following decree in 1810:

Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law. Now the commoner, Yang, dares to bring it into the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial Palace from the mid- Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Indeed, he flouts the law!
However, recently the purchases, eaters, and consumers of opium have become numerous. Deceitful merchants buy and sell it to gain profit. The customs house at the Ch'ung-wen Gate was originally set up to supervise the collection of imports (it had no responsibility with regard to opium smuggling). If we confine our search for opium to the seaports, we fear the search will not be sufficiently thorough. We should also order the general commandant of the police and police- censors at the five gates to prohibit opium and to search for it at all gates. If they capture any violators, they should immediately punish them and should destroy the opium at once. As to Kwangtung and Fukien, the provinces from which opium comes, we order their viceroys, governors, and superintendents of the maritime customs to conduct a thorough search for opium, and cut off its supply. Guangdong ( EFEO: Kouangtong; Pinyin Guǎngdōng; Postal map spelling: Kwangtung) is a province on the They should in no ways consider this order a dead letter and allow opium to be smuggled out![4]

The decree had little effect because the Qing government in Beijing in the north could not stop merchants from smuggling opium into China from the south. Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China This, along with the addictive properties of the drug, the desire for more profit by the British East India Company which had been granted a monopoly on trade with China by the British government, and the fact that Britain wanted silver (see gold standard) furthered the opium trade. The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or The gold standard is a monetary system in which a region's common media of exchange are paper notes that are normally freely convertible into pre-set fixed quantities of Gold By the 1820s China imported 900 tons of opium from Bengal annually. Events and trends Nationalistic independence helped reshape the world during this decade Greece gains independence from the Ottoman Empire

Napier Affair to the First Opium War (1839–1843)

Lin Zexu's "memorial" (摺奏) written directly to Queen Victoria
Lin Zexu's "memorial" (摺奏) written directly to Queen Victoria
Main article: First Opium War

In 1834 to accommodate the revocation of the East India Company's monopoly, the British sent Lord William John Napier to Macau. Lin Zexu ( Styled: Yuanfu (元抚 ( August 30, 1785 &ndash November 22, 1850) was a Chinese scholar and official during A petition is a request to change some thing most commonly made to a government official or public entity Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The First Opium War or the First Anglo-Chinese War was fought between the British East India Company and the Qing Dynasty in China from 1839 William John Napier 9th Lord Napier ( Chinese:律勞卑 1786 - October 11, 1834) was a Royal Navy officer politician and diplomat For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Macau topics. He tried to circumvent the restrictive Canton Trade laws which forbade direct contact with Chinese officials by attempting to send a letter directly to the Viceroy of Canton but the Viceroy never accepted the letter and closed trade starting on September 2 of that year. The Canton System (1760-1842 served as a means for China to control trade with the west within its own country Events 44 BC - Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. Lord Napier had to return to Macau (where he died a few days later) and, unable to force the matter, the British agreed to resume trade under the old restrictions.

Within the Chinese mandarinate there was an ongoing debate over legalizing the opium trade itself. However, this idea was repeatedly rejected and instead, in 1838 the government sentenced native drug traffickers to death. Around this time, the British were selling roughly 1,400 tons per year to China. In March 1839 the Emperor appointed a new strict Confucianist commissioner, Lin Zexu, to control the opium trade at the port of Canton. Lin Zexu ( Styled: Yuanfu (元抚 ( August 30, 1785 &ndash November 22, 1850) was a Chinese scholar and official during His first course of action was to enforce the imperial demand that there be a permanent halt to drug shipments into China. When the British refused to end the trade, Lin imposed a trade embargo on the British. On March 27, 1839 Charles Elliot, British Superintendent of Trade, demanded that all British subjects turn over their opium to him, to be confiscated by Commissioner Lin Zexu, amounting to nearly a year's supply of the drug. Events 196 BC - Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt. 1309 - Pope Clement V excommunicates Year 1839 ( MDCCCXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common In a departure from his brief, he promised that the crown would compensate them for the lost opium. While this amounted to a tacit acknowledgment that the British government did not disapprove of the trade, it also forced a huge liability on the exchequer. Unable to allocate funds for an illegal drug but pressed for compensation by the merchants, this liability is cited as one reason for the decision to force a war. [5] After the opium was surrendered, trade was restarted on the strict condition that no more drugs would be smuggled into China. Lin demanded that British merchants had to sign a bond promising not to deal in opium under penalty of death. [6] The British officially opposed signing of the bond, but some British merchants that did not deal in opium were willing to sign. Lin then disposed of the opium by dissolving it with water, salt and lime and dumping it into the ocean.

In 1839 Lin took the extraordinary step of presenting a letter directly to Queen Victoria questioning the moral reasoning of the royal government. Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Citing what he understood was a strict prohibition of the opium trade within England, Ireland, and Scotland, Lin questioned how Britain could then profit from the drug in China. He also wrote, "Your Majesty has not before been thus officially notified, and you may plead ignorance of the severity of our laws, but I now give my assurance that we mean to cut this harmful drug forever. "[7] However, at this time opium was not illegal in England, where comparably smaller quantities were imported to be smoked as well.

It is believed that the Queen never received Lin's letter. The British government and merchants offered no response to Lin's memorial, instead accusing Lin of destroying their private property. Lin had destroyed a large quantity of opium he had confiscated mainly from British traders, which he had put into a specially dug canal, treated with lye and washed out to sea. When the British learned of what was taking place in Canton, as communications between these two parts of the world took months at this time, they sent a large British Indian army, which arrived in June of 1840. See Indian Army for the post-independence (and post- partition) army of the Republic of India. [8]

British military superiority was clearly evident during the armed conflict. British warships wreaked havoc on coastal towns. Recent innovations of steam power combined with sail and the use of iron in ship building made ships like the Nemesis not only indestructible but highly mobile, and could support a gun platform with very heavy guns. Launched in 1839 the Honorable East India Company Nemesis was the first British ocean-going iron warship and was used to great effect in the First Opium In addition, the British troops, armed with modern muskets and cannons, greatly outpowered the Qing forces. A musket is a muzzle -loaded Smoothbore Long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder | NOTE Throughout this article "cannon" is used as BOTH the || singular and plural After the British took Canton, they sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax barges, a devastating blow to the Empire as it slashed the revenue of the imperial court in Beijing to just a small fraction. Guangdong ( EFEO: Kouangtong; Pinyin Guǎngdōng; Postal map spelling: Kwangtung) is a province on the

In 1842 the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the Treaty of Nanjing negotiated in August of that year and ratified in 1843. The Treaty of Nanking (Treaty of Nanjing signed 29 August, 1842, was the unequal treaty which marked the end of the First Opium War between In the treaty, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, agreed to open five ports to Britain, and ceded Hong Kong to Queen Victoria. In the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, the Qing empire also recognized Britain as on equal status with China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in the treaty ports. The Treaty of the Bogue ( was an agreement between China and the United Kingdom, which was concluded in October 1843 in order to supplement the previous In 1844, the United States and France also concluded similar treaties with China, the Treaty of Wanghia and Treaty of Whampoa respectively. The Treaty of Wanghia ( is a diplomatic agreement between the Qing Empire and the United States, signed on 3 July 1844 in the. The Treaty of Whampoa ( was a commercial treaty between France and China, which was signed by Théodore de Lagrené and Qiying on

Second Opium War (1856-1860)

Main article: Second Opium War

The Second Opium War, or Arrow War, broke out following an incident in which Chinese officials boarded a vessel near the port of Whampoa, the Arrow, in October 1856. The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war of the United Kingdom Arrow was owned by a Chinese privateer. The Chinese owner registered the vessel with the British authorities in Hong Kong with the purpose of making privateering easier.

He received a one year permit from the Hong Kong authorities, but it had already expired when inspected by the Chinese official who boarded the vessel. The crew of the Arrow were accused of piracy and smuggling, and were arrested. In response, the British consulate in Guangzhou insisted that Arrow was a British vessel. The British accused the Chinese officials of tearing down and insulting the British flag during inspection. The Second Opium War was started when British forces attacked Guangzhou in 1856.

French forces joined the British intervention after a French missionary Auguste Chapdelaine was killed by a local mandarin in China. Father Auguste Chapdelaine (Chinese name Ma Lai ( February 6, 1814 - February 29, 1856) was a French Christian Missionary Other nations became involved diplomatically although they didn't provide military personnel.

The Treaty of Tianjin was created in July 1858, but was not ratified by China until two years later; this would prove to be a very important document in China's early modern history, as it was one of the primary unequal treaties. Several documents titled " Treaty of Tien-tsin " ( Traditional Chinese: 天津條約 Simplified Chinese: 天津条约 Pinyin: Tiānjīn Tiáoyuē Unequal Treaties is a term used in reference to the type of Treaties signed by several East Asian states including Qing Dynasty China, late

Hostilities broke out once more in 1859, after China refused the establishment of a British embassy in Beijing, which had been promised by the Treaty of Tianjin. Fighting erupted in Hong Kong, and in Beijing, where the British set out to destroy the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace. The Summer Palace or Yi he yuan ( is a palace in Beijing, China. The Old Summer Palace, known in China as the Gardens of Perfect Brightness ( and originally called the Imperial Gardens ( was a complex of palaces and gardens China ratified the Treaty of Tianjin at the Convention of Peking in 1860, ending the war. The Convention of Peking or the First Convention of Peking is the name used for three different treaties which were concluded between Qing China and the The treaty granted the opening of ten new port cities, for foreigners to be allowed to travel in all parts of China, for Protestant and Catholic missionaries freedom of movement within the country and for an indemnity of three million ounces of silver to be paid to Britain, and two million ounces of silver to be paid to France.

A revered hero in the war against opium

Main article: Lin Zexu

Lin Zexu, the Governor-General of Hunan and Hubei realized the consequences, and acted upon the dangers of widespread addiction to the illicit drug, and warned the Daoguang Emperor of eliminating the national malady of opium abuse. Lin Zexu ( Styled: Yuanfu (元抚 ( August 30, 1785 &ndash November 22, 1850) was a Chinese scholar and official during ( is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning ( Postal map spelling: Hupeh) is a central province of the People's Republic of China. The Daoguang Emperor ( September 16, 1782 – February 25, 1850) was the seventh emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty Drug abuse has a wide range of definitions related to taking a Psychoactive drug or Performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect The Manchu emperor authorized him to rectify the situation, and Lin Zexu embarked on an anti-opium campaign which immediately saw the arrest of 1,700 opium dealers and the confiscation and destruction of 2. The Manchu people ( Manchu: Manju;, Mongolian: Манж Russian: Маньчжуры are a Tungusic people who originated in 6 million pounds of opium.

These anti-opium actions has earned Lin Zexu fame in the annals of Chinese history as a man of superlative conduct and position of "high moral ground", as a shepherd of his people, against the illicit drug trade [9]. Although his war against the illicit drug ultimately failed, and he had been made the scapegoat for the actions leading to British military retaliation in sparking the First Opium War[10], Lin Zexu is popularly viewed as a hero of 19th century China who stood up against British imperialism, and whose likeness now, have been immortalized at various locations around the world[11]/[12]/[13]/[14]. The First Opium War or the First Anglo-Chinese War was fought between the British East India Company and the Qing Dynasty in China from 1839

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Hanes, William Travis; Frank Sanello (2002). Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another, 3.  
  2. ^ Eduardo Real: ‘’The Taiping Rebellion’’
  3. ^ Chisholm, Hugh (1911). The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, 130.  
  4. ^ Fu, Lo-shu (1966). A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western relations, Volume 1, 380.  
  5. ^ Foreign Mud: The opium imbroglio at Canton in the 1830s and the Anglo-Chinese War," by Maurice Collis, W. W. Norton, New York, 1946
  6. ^ Coleman, Anthony (1999). Millennium. Transworld Publishers, 243-244.  
  7. ^ Modern History Sourcebook:Commissioner Lin:Letter to Queen Victoria, 1839
  8. ^ Spence, Jonathan D. . The Search for Modern China 2nd ed. , 153-155.  
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ [2]
  11. ^ [3]
  12. ^ [4]
  13. ^ [5]
  14. ^ [6]
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